[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 131 (Thursday, July 9, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37094-37095]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-18202]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY


Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program: Conditional 
Approvals, Findings Documents, Responses to Comments, and Records of 
Decision

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Conditional Approval of Coastal Nonpoint Pollution 
Control Programs and Availability of Findings Documents, Responses to 
Comments, and Records of Decision for Alabama, Alaska, California, 
Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Washington.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the conditional approval of the 
Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs (coastal nonpoint programs) 
and of the availability of the Findings Documents, Responses to 
Comments, and Records of Decision for Alabama, Alaska, California, 
Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Washington. Section 6217 of the 
Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA), 16 U.S.C. section 
1455b, requires states and territories with coastal zone management 
programs that have received approval under section 306 of the Coastal 
Zone Management Act to develop and implement coastal nonpoint programs. 
Coastal states and territories were required to submit their coastal 
nonpoint programs to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) for approval in July 1995.
    NOAA and EPA have approved, with conditions, the coastal nonpoint 
programs submitted by Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, 
Louisiana, and Washington.
    NOAA and EPA have prepared a Findings Document for each 6217 
program submitted for approval. The Findings Documents were prepared by 
NOAA and EPA to provide the rationale for the agencies' decision to 
approve

[[Page 37095]]

each state and territory coastal nonpoint program. The Proposed 
Findings Documents, Environmental Assessments, and Findings of No 
Significant Impact prepared for the coastal nonpoint programs submitted 
by Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and 
Washington were made available for public comment in the Federal 
Register. Public comments were received and responses prepared on the 
Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Louisiana 
programs.
    In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
NOAA has also prepared a Record of Decision on each program. The 
requirements of 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 (Council on Environmental 
Quality (CEQ) regulations to implement the National Environmental 
Policy Act) apply to the preparation of a Record of Decision. 
Specifically, 40 CFR section 1505.2 requires an agency to prepare a 
concise public record of decision at the time of its decision on the 
action proposed in an environmental impact statement. The Record of 
Decision shall: (1) state what the decision was; (2) identify all 
alternatives considered, specifying the alternative considered to be 
environmentally preferable; and (3) state whether all practicable means 
to avoid or minimize environmental harm from the alternative selected 
have been adopted.
    In March 1996, NOAA published a programmatic environmental impact 
statement (PEIS) that assessed the environmental impacts associated 
with the approval of state and territory coastal nonpoint programs. The 
PEIS forms the basis for the environmental assessments NOAA has 
prepared for each state and territorial coastal nonpoint program 
submitted to NOAA and EPA for approval. In the PEIS, NOAA determined 
that the approval and conditional approval of coastal nonpoint in any 
significant adverse environmental impacts and that these programs will 
not result actions will have an overall beneficial effect on the 
environment. Because the PEIS served only as a ``framework for 
decision'' on individual state and territorial coastal nonpoint 
programs, and no actual decision was made following its publication, 
NOAA has prepared a NEPA Record of Decision on each individual state 
and territorial program submitted for review.
    Copies of the Findings Documents, Responses to Comments, and 
Records of Decision may be obtained upon request from: Joseph A. 
Uravitch, Chief, Coastal Programs Division (N/ORM3), Office of Ocean 
and Coastal Resource Management, NOS, NOAA, 1305 East-West Highway, 
Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, tel. (301) 713-3155, x195.

(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog 11.419 Coastal Zone Management 
Program Administration)

    Dated: July 6, 1998.
Captain Evelyn J. Fields,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal 
Zone Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Robert H. Wayland, III,
Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, Environmental 
Protection Agency.
[FR Doc. 98-18202 Filed 7-8-98; 8:45 am]
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